Perry is an ornament. Everything that makes her popular is visual. Kravitz is light years ahead of her in music talent and despite the laundry list of great songs he has they made him play one minute of one of Perry's tunes. And I thought having Slash play "Sweet Child O Mine" with Fergie singing was a travesty. Petty & The Heartbreakers is still my favourite halftime show and all they did was play great songs. No backup dancers, no sharks.
Not true. She can actually sing (I mean, she's no Adele) and fwiw, is the writer or co-writer of every song she's recorded. You can say she's an ornament, and pop isn't really my thing, but balancing everything in the performance she gave - lots of costume changes, flying rigs, different edits of songs, dance moves, hitting her marks - on that big of a stage is not easy. There's a reason why you can go into bars and clubs, and hear a band or performer with fantastic talent and musical chops that can't make it big. Part of it, of course, is getting breaks and taking advantage of those, but people like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, etc. work their ass off. There are lots of "visual ornament" performers that suck and flame out. True. Not true. The "they" was Kravitz and Perry. She picked him to perform with her, he accepted her invitation, and the two of them decided together on that song, according to him. I'm sure she's a fan of Lenny Kravitz, too. Now that I agree with, even if you can't spell favorite correctly. And, apparently, Katy Perry didn't have to pay to peform, but she didn't get paid to perform. The NFL picked up the tab for the show's production, though. Maybe left shark was Wes Welker.
Perry is probably one of the smartest and savviest pop stars out there right now. One of my old directors is now a VP at Capitol Records and raves about her business sense, people management, and smart use of creative control. You know the stories of great CEOs being briefed with a tidbit about managers/execs that are presenting to them so they can bring it up and make a quick connection? I guess Perry does the same thing, engages everyone whether it be complimenting the Admin's shoes or something similar. Her image is bubble gum and carefree, but its carefully crafted and she has almost all the control (see her taking a subtle shot at Taylor Swift with the terrible high waisted polka dot bikinis her back up dancers wore in the performance). She's also pretty aggressively philanthropic. I respect her a lot more than most pop stars out there. Except for Rihanna, cause she's given zero fucks for about 8 years.
High-waisted bikinis are the WORST! Whatever do you mean? Surely that was just a coincidence. Spoiler Spoiler Taylor isn't even wearing a head band, like that girl on the right who just happens to be wearing the exact same bikini.
Lenny Kravitz is too busy counting the money and him his daughter are raking in from acting. "Hey Dad, I'll take this Divergent Series, which is a fucking piss poor ripoff of Hunger Games. Tell JLaw, I said hi." "Even thought I got my ass kicked and possibly killed in Catching Fire, the checks are still coming in from DVD residuals. GO KRAVITZ FAMILY!" I thought the halftime show was solid. Katy Perry just has a ridiculous body. Those sharks were awesome, and that stage was even cooler. That lion was sweet, better it was cooler in person where you couldn't clearly see the ninjas moving it. Also, Missy Elliot definitely can get a bump in iTunes sales, because all the youngins are like "who's that?" Not to mention the subset of people who like to go back to music after it's aged 10 years.
All of the women at the party (90s girls) went apeshit when Missy came out. Know who's having a better day than my co-worker who just flew into town from Las Vegas last night? Pretty much everyone, because he just puked at his desk.
Lenny's also spent his entire career being described as mostly show over substance, though. He makes a catchy tune and plays well enough certainly, but most of his stuff is imitative of those before/around him rather than breaking new ground. A huge part of his career has been built around looking like Lenny Kravitz, seeming dangerous but not overly so, and not wearing or buttoning shirts. Not sure he's all that different at the end of the day. He makes catchy pop radio songs while looking pretty, his just have a funkier bassline. I also liked Swift's response. When asked what she thought about the show, she responded with "Missy had a great performance."
Case in point... I remember in the one Simpson's episode with the rock and roll camp Homer goes to, Kravitz was featured as the "dressing like a rocker" guy.
I've seen him in concert a handful of times, and the dude has talent... he didn't just make it as far as he did just on his looks. The guy's style is way better suited to a live show, and he really pulls them off. Just because he did a few songs that were quite formulaic, but sold like crazy, shouldn't be any reason to slam the guy's talent.
Sure, he's got talent in spades as an instrumentalist and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I actually really like almost all of his songs. But his looks and ability to put forward "rock star vibe" are why he's a world-famous pop star rather than a session performer or a member of a larger band. It just seems dumb to say pile on Perry et al. as eye candy while not acknowledging the role that has played in the careers of guys like Kravitz and Adam Levine. Plus, writing and consistently performing radio pop is way harder than anyone gives people credit for. There's always another pretty girl working to replace you. And I don't know to what degree Perry's cowriting credits are deserved versus nominal, but as a general rule, if anyone could do it, it wouldn't be nearly as lucrative.
Totally agree... wasn't disagreeing with you. People need to understand that there are many ways of gaining and measuring success in music, and looks/persona goes a long way. Kiss is probably the best example of that. So to pile on Perry or Kravitz for not being musical prodigies is just pretentious bullshit.
I'm not a huge Lenny Kravitz fan musically. Are You Going My Way is amazing, but I could do without ever hearing Fly or his cover of American Woman again. However, that being said, I fucking love Lenny Kravitz. He's larger than life without ever appearing suffocatingly pretentious and just has the whole image, personality, and persona that makes you go "dammit, Lenny Kravitz is cool as fuck." There have been plenty of more "talented" rock stars I've enjoyed who have never given that vibe off. Charisma is a critical component that people like to write off as fluff.
I've seen Kravitz in a tiny venue and a huge one, and he is a bonifide Rock and Roll star. He brings shitloads of hot girls out to see his shows and sounds great. His Neo-hippie shtick gets on my nerves a little from time to time but that what you're like when you smoke more weed daily than Blues Traveler the night before they go through customs. He can write great rock anthems and equally good more gentle tunes (Believe and It Ain't Over 'Till Its Over spring to mind). That character performance he puts on allows him to dress like an idiot without at all looking like an idiot. He's the type of guy who call pull that off because it all suits his dynamic perfectly. That outfit he wore playing Higher Ground with Stevie Wonder....Jesus Christ. I too hate his cover of American Woman. It just sounds like an anemic version of the amazing original.